Sheldon Alberts: There’s no ‘you’ in Herman Cain

Professional athletes and entertainment industry celebs have long had a habit of referring to themselves in the third person, giving off an aura of self-importance and stroking their own egos. The brand comes before the person. It’s annoying as all get out, but for the most part the trend has been limited to folks who inhabit a different stratosphere of fame and fortune, like LeBron James and Rickey Henderson.

There’s a name for this, by the way. It’s called Illeism, and is defined on Wikipedia and other sites as “the act of referring to oneself in the third person instead of the more appropriate first person.”

Unfortunately, narcissism is not completely unknown in the realm of politics, and neither is illeism.

Some famous political illeists are listed on a funny blog devoted to the issue, and include Bob Dole and Richard Nixon, who declared “You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore” after losing the California governor’s race in 1962.

Enter Herman Cain.

Some Americans think the country needs a third party presidential candidate. Cain apparently thinks America needs a third-person candidate.

It happens in every speech, interview and news conference. Cain will sometimes refer to himself in the first person – “I am running for president” etc. But he just can’t resist talking about himself like he is someone else. Cain did this several times during the news conference he held on Tuesday denying he had ever sexually harassed anyone.

A sampling:

“I chose to address these accusations directly, rather than try to do it through a series of continuous statements or spokespeople because that’s the person Herman Cain is, is to take my message directly to the people.”

“Well, a businessman by the name of Herman Cain stepped forward. Here I am. But I know from the American people that I have talked with and I have spoken with over the past several months, we are not going to allow Washington or politics to deny me the opportunity to represent this great nation.”

“But you see, that’s one thing about Herman Cain that I think that a lot of the American people know, and that is, just because it’s tough, there’s no reason for me not to do what I feel like I have to do. And because of what the American people have said to me during these turbulent times, we will get through this. We will get through this.”

“Well, I happen to think where it’s coming from is that some people don’t want to see Herman Cain get the Republican nomination, and some people don’t want Herman Cain to become president of the United States of America.”

Related

“I can’t answer why the ones that have already made these one anonymous accusations and one that was, you know — you know, put their face on TV, started a media campaign to basically try and slander my integrity and my character, I can’t tell you what their motivation is, other than it’s to stop Herman Cain.”

Cain’s campaign Twitter handle is @THEHermanCain, I guess to distinguish himself from THEOTHERHermanCains of the world.

So, what’s behind all these third person self-references? Some psychologists suggest it is a symptom of narcissistic personality disorder, which the National Institutes of Health’s national library of medicine describes as “a condition in which people have an inflated sense of self-importance and an extreme preoccupation with themselves.”

Another explanation appeared in Esquire magazine a few years back, by Elsa Ronningstam, who was listed as “associate clinical professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School and author of Identifying and Understanding the Narcissistic Personality.”

Here is what Ronningstam had to say in Esquire: “Referring to yourself in the third person creates distance between ‘I’ and ‘he.’ So if you have an exaggerated view of how great you are, you could be using this distance to make yourself even bigger. Or, if you’ve achieved major success suddenly, using the third person could be a way to adjust to the bigger role that’s been assigned to you. It’s a way to enlarge yourself to fit that role.”

In the wake of a Grammy Awards ceremony that disappointed many, from Kanye West to the masses on Twitter lamenting the state of pop music, a historical perspective is key. Few are better poised to offer one than Andy Kim.